This is so true! So in "Here's Your Sign" Christmas version one of the jokes is when is midnight Mass....but the bad part is you have to ask! No one holds it at midnight anymore! Come on, people -it is supposed to be at midnight! Ugh, so true...

We had a lovely Christmas - I hope you did all as well! Adam was pretty wild by the end of the day - over tired and over exicted, but otherwise a great day. He really even did fine during Mass (Andrew was another story....). They seemed to see all the toys as "theirs" and had a great time playing and sharing them all. While we had no snow, the weather actually wasn't bad (no rain), so Adam and Ray got to go for a walk to get outside for awhile. I was inside cooking and Andrew napping. As a note, we always go to Christmas Eve services and are used to "standing room only," but I was scheduled to read this morning, so we went on Christmas Day this year....we got there early, expecting standing room only...nope. A full Church, but no more than a normal Sunday. But NO kids...except ours.....while more room, I'm not sure we'll keep to the Christmas day thing...harder on the scheduling for food and whatnot.

Adam opening a present from Santa!

So Uncle Billy got Adam a nerf gun (which I recommended), but while I was thinking about a pistol sized gun....Uncle Billy bought a sniper rifle! As you can see, this is bigger than Adam is! He also can't really work it yet.

The boys got a new kitchen!

And the box is fun, too!

We got a Kindle Fire!

Okay, so Adam got a Newton's Cradle....he was doing fine...then Andrew got ahold of it for like 2 minutes...how he did this so quickly, I have no idea...and we can't seem to fix it....it will have to be sent in for "repairs" - meaning we'll get a new one and say it got fixed....

I made these as a fun Christmas dessert - whoopie pies. I saw a Bobby Flay throwdown on these and thought they sounded really good, so decided to try a version. This is a basic one, but actually really good. The marshmallow creme stuff is GOOD. You'll notice I individually wrapped these - my cakes are pretty "tacky" and stick to everything - including each other, which was a problem for storage. Hence the wrapping. I think I might need to cook them a bit longer...I tend to underbake as I like soft and gooey...but I think for ease of eating a little drier might be better!

1 cup canned pumpkin (this will leave you with like 1/2 cup in a 15 oz can...annoying, I know....)

1/3 cupoil

1/3 cupwater

3 eggs

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened (remember to soften!)

1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow creme

1 tsp ground ginger (they used crystallized ginger, like 1/3 cup, but I couldn't find it for a reasonable price so I did this, which I thought tasted great and the ginger would have been "pops" while this was all through it, which I thought worked....and it was MUCH cheaper...I'm sure if I searched I could find it, but what I could find at the two local grocery chains was a bottle of it for $13 that probably wasn't even a 1/3 cup total...so definitely NOT buying it to use that much!)

1/4 tsp.ground cinnamon

1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping, thawed

Heatoven to 350ºF.

Beatfirst seven ingredients with mixer until well blended. Scoop into 32 mounds, 3 inches apart, on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, using about 2 tbsp for each.

Beatcream cheese, marshmallow cream, ginger and cinnamon in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Whisk in whipping topping. Spread 3 tbsp. onto flat side of 1 cake; top with second cake, flat-side down. Repeat with remaining cakes. Keep refrigerated.

Makes 16 servings.

They also used orange sprinkles and rolled the edges....if you were doing this for Halloween (which I think they were), it would be more appropriate, but I don't think you need them.

I saw this article and I have to say I mostly agree. I've been amazed at how many places are unfriendly to kids that SHOULD be kid-friendly. For example, I expect a bar to be un-kid friendly...its a bar! But if a place has a kids menu and caters to family with kids, then they should be kid friendly...and it is amazing how many aren't! I had to complain to SUBWAY about highchairs! (They did call and apologize actually, though) Most of these places, though, don't even have changing tables!